Katasterismós
g. olmo stuppia’s highly anticipated solo exhibition, Katasterismós, is now open at the 500-square-meter SPUMA Space for the Arts in Venice. Located in a late 19th-century former brewery at the heart of Giudecca Island, within the ecosystem of Fondamenta San Biagio, the site-specific project Katasterismós reaches towards the stars amidst the overwhelming light pollution of the modern era.
Co-produced by Venice Art Factory, R Platform, Orsini Collezioni, the exhibition offers a striking and immersive experience that delves into the themes of migration—of bodies, souls and icons. It embodies displacement and the quest for freedom. Running from February 21 to March 31, 2025, it merges film, large-scale textile sculpture, photography, and collaborative works in a thoughtfully curated environment that invites contemplation on both personal and collective histories.
The compelling centerpiece of the exhibition is stuppia’s film Marrying the Night Ep.V, a profound 4K production shot with a FLIR Camera and edited by Domenico Palmeri and Gerardo Brentari. The film intricately weaves together narratives surrounding migration and the search for a new world. It is presented alongside sculptures and photographs, enveloping the audience in a fluid interplay of light and shadow. These elements converge to evoke the timeless myth of migration—one that is both ancient and contemporary—offering a meditative reflection on freedom and the existential challenges faced by those in transit.
The First Room: Collaboration and Artistic Dialogue
Upon entering the first room of Katasterismós, the audience is immediately drawn into a dialogue between multiple contributing artists, whose works each offer a unique voice within the overarching themes of the exhibition. Among the featured artists are Gerardo Brentari, Diego Gelosi, Arianna Marcolin, Francesca Marconi, Cristina Nuñez, and Raqs Media Collective, all of whom bring their individual sensibilities and perspectives to the work.
Gerardo Brentari: Homage to Painting (installation, 2025). An irreverent tribute to the redemptive power of art, with a particular focus on painting, Brentari’s work is represented by a T-shirt that portrays the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Clifford Etienne, dubbed “The Black Rhino,”, which took place on February 22, 2003. In a dramatic moment, Tyson delivered a single punch that knocked Etienne out. This event marked the beginning of Etienne’s legal troubles, which eventually led to his departure from the sport in 2006 and his subsequent 105-year prison sentence. Within the confines of incarceration, however, Etienne discovered his aptitude for painting, creating an ironic and meaningful body of work inspired by the cultural traditions of Louisiana and New Orleans, his childhood home. Making Off (video, 2025). In this video, Brentari captures the making of Marrying the Night Ep.V – Fireflies in New York using his essential handycam. The video fragments offer a glimpse into the dedication, spirit of defiance, and sharp denunciation embedded within the film, while also showcasing the powerful creative energy fostered by the collaboration between artists and the American metropolis.
Diego Gelosi: α, ιγ, λζ. 1, 13, 37 (installation, 2025). A rotating radar rod marks the passage of time through an unyielding, cyclical motion, producing a deep, percussive sound as it sweeps across a photocell. Meanwhile, in the video loop, smoke emanates from a chimney, obscuring and intermittently revealing the Madonnina of Milan in a moment of sacred clarity. During this suspended moment, both the rod’s movement and the sound cease, as though time itself pauses in reverence to the revelation. The Madonnina stands as a symbol of eternal artistic creation, transcending the transient nature of contemporary production. This reflects the builders of Milan’s Cathedral, who, knowing they would never witness the completion of their work, nevertheless contributed to a creation that transcends time.
Arianna Marcolin: Ash (installation, 2025). The writings scattered on the ground consist of ash produced by burning wood from the artist’s childhood home stove in Schio, near Vicenza. The small piles of ash are shaped into letters, which form words, ultimately creating entire sentences. In this work, Marcolin pays homage to typography, a craft passed down through generations in her family. She particularly honors her grandfather, who, when she was a child, taught her the techniques of movable type composition. The attempt—futile from the outset—to organize and control a fleeting substance like ash, translating its ephemeral form into words, transforms into a ritual of prayer. The sentences, drawn from Marcolin’s personal reflections or various authors’ writings, become magical formulas: extracts capable of offering salvation in the relentless flow of life’s questions. Once committed to memory, the phrases endure the wind’s gusts or the careless steps of an unwitting visitor.
Francesca Marconi: Cartography of the Horizon / Map the New Word. Libya-Italy, Morocco-Spain, and The Travel of Mamadou Saliou (project 2020, print 2025). This photographic triptych stems from the Cartography of the Horizon / Map the New Word workshop conducted by Marconi with a group of asylum seekers in Lombardy. Through a participatory approach, Marconi, in a manner akin to a creator, initiated the construction of a new Earth, a novel atlas that challenges conventional notions of borders and identity. This new map reshapes contemporary territories into a shared, collective landscape. The images presented are photomontages based on satellite maps sourced from Google Earth, depicting the countries the migrants crossed or aspired to reach. These maps form an unprecedented geography of desire, a trans-territorial Pangea in constant motion, prompting reflection on the arbitrary nature of national boundaries defined by prevailing political forces.
Cristina Nuñez: Heaven on Earth (project, 2025). During her time in Sicily for the Heaven on Earth project, Nuñez explored the theme of monotheistic religions in Europe. Following a photographic documentation of an Easter procession, the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet served as a powerful symbol of the supernatural—a theme central to Nuñez’s artistic journey. The celestial event, appearing before her eyes, transcended the ordinary, becoming an instrument of inner knowledge and reinforcing the spirituality the artist has long embraced. Shaped by her pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago and a transformative journey to Jerusalem, Nuñez’s art emphasizes an immanent spirituality. The comet thus becomes not just a transcendent symbol, but a guiding star on Earth, akin to the Magi’s star. This event is not one of transcendence but of the presence of the sacred within the human experience. Nuñez’s own past as a heroin addict and prostitute illuminates her mission, which is carried out in challenging environments such as prisons, psychiatric institutions, and rehabilitation centers.
Raqs Media Collective: The Course of Love (project 2019, print 2025). A real boat serves as the vessel for an ideal one: an origami boat adrift without a helmsman, at times running aground or capsizing in the canals. The real object, in this sense, embodies the concept of the object—much like the love that endures, shaped by memories transformed through nostalgic sweetness and idealized fantasy. The rudderless boat symbolizes a stream of consciousness, irrationality, and the playful contrasts of color—like a fiery sail upon the sea. The interplay of light, the geometry of the folds, and the optical properties of the materials present an image distilled to its most fundamental form.
The Sculpture-Sail: A Symbol of Migration and Freedom
One of the exhibition’s most powerful symbols is g. olmo stuppia’s sculpture-sail, a striking work crafted from traditional Italian textiles that takes center stage in the space. This piece symbolizes both the literal and metaphorical journey of migration. The sail’s movement, as it flutters in the curated lighting, captures the ephemeral nature of hope, struggle, and survival. It serves as a poignant metaphor for the journey itself—a journey marked by the constant need to adjust to ever-changing winds.
As part of a visceral and emotional act embedded in the exhibition’s broader narrative, the sculpture-sail is connected to a ritual in which Italian documents—pieces of identity, heritage, and belonging—are burned in front of the Statue of Freedom. This symbolic act, a moment of severance from the past, captures the painful yet liberating decision to forge a new identity. The ritual is a reflection on the emotional labor of migration, where one must abandon part of themselves to find freedom, and yet, in the act of burning, they also lay the groundwork for reinvention.
Immersing in the Environment of Light and Darkness
Curated by Giuseppe Amedeo Arnesano, Elena Cera, and Giulia Gelmi, Katasterismós transforms the architecture of SPUMA Space into a profound artistic statement in itself. The venue becomes a dynamic setting, serving as a conduit for the emotional ebb and flow that shapes the exhibition’s narrative. The alternating play of light and darkness not only enhances the visual aspects but also emphasizes the emotional rhythms inherent to the migration story. This contrast between shadow and illumination invites visitors to reflect on the dual nature of migration: the unyielding push towards an uncertain future and the poignant pull of an elusive past.
As the exhibition embarks on its international tour, with upcoming presentations in Paris, Palermo, Milan, and New York, it offers a unique opportunity to engage with g. olmo stuppia’s deeply philosophical and visually arresting meditation on migration, freedom, and human connection. A volume titled Katasterismós. A Drift Inside “Marrying the Night” will be published by Postmedia Books in both Italian and English, further expanding the exhibition’s reach.
Through Katasterismós, stuppia not only challenges the boundaries of contemporary art but also creates a space for critical reflection on the profound emotional and political forces that shape the experience of Italian diaspora, presenting it as a metaphor for the broader experience of emigrants in the post-truth age. Emigration, in this context, functions as a political device. This exhibition not only calls for intellectual engagement but also emotional introspection, offering a hauntingly beautiful experience that resonates to the very essence of what it means to be human in an ever-changing world.
Katasterismós is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m., or by appointment calling +39 348 704 8962; +39 340 533 3117
Press Release Link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b7xabkt07shm4g8gtbzq1/CS_Katasterism-s_ENG_31.01.docx?rlkey=u24hng4mhkkxrom07svul2dkk&st=w0gq9f4x&dl=0